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1 



LIVES. ^ 



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OF ALL THE 



f 
i 

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED THE 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 



AND THE 



f CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BOSTON: 
J PRINTED BY SAMUEL HARRIS. 

K 1843. 



fc.-^.-^^ 



\ 



LIVES 



OF ALL THE 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED THE 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 



AND THE 



CONSTITUTIOxN OF THE UNITED STATES. 



^^OF 



BOSTON: 

SAM 
1843. 



PRINTED BY SAMUEL HARRIS. 






PREFACE. 

This useful and interesting little work should be in the possession of 
every family in the United States. It is a subject with which every 
American should be familiar, and to which all lovers of their country, of 
whatever party or opinion, may turn with partial and patriotic pride. The 
advantages, to be derived from it, are almost incalculable. 



S"'— "^ 

w 



i 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by Jeremiah Greenleaf, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



nO 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

The first President of the United States was George Washington, 
" tlie Father of his Country," and the greatest man of modern times. He 
was the third son of Augustine Washington, and was born at Bridges 
Creek, in the county of Westmoreland, Va., Feb. 22, 1732. The prop- 
erty of his father descending to an elder brother, at the age of 15, he made 
preparation to enter the British navy as a midshipman, but was persuaded 
to abandon the design by his mother. He devoted himself assiduously to 
study, particularly the mathematics and general science. At 19, he was 
appointed an adjutant general of militia ; and soon after executed with 
great coolness and fidelity a difficult enterprize entrusted to him by the 
Governor of Virginia, that of communicating with the commanding officer 
of the French garrison, on the Ohio, and exploring the intermediate coun- 
try, with an eye to future military operations. In 1754, he commanded 
a new regiment, raised against the French ; was in the several skirmishes, 
and in the hottest of the sanguinary battle of Fort du Quesne, on the 9th 
of July, 1754 ; but at the close of the year, he resigned his command and 
retired. His brother had died, and the paternal estate came into his pos- 
session. 

He married Martha Custis, a young widow lady, of large fortune and 
superior accomplishments; and gave his attention to the cultivation of his 
farm, one of the most extensive in Virginia. His slaves and other persons 
employed at this time, were nearly a thousand. He became a member of 
the Legislature, and also a judge. Tn 1774, he was elected a member of 
the first Congress, and took an active part in revolutionary measures. 
Soon after the battle of Lexington took place, Washington, at the sugges- 
tion of John Adams, was elected commander-in-chief of the armies of the 
united colonies, and accepted the office. He repaired to Cambridge, then 
the head quarters of the patriot army. From this period, through all the 
vicissitudes, difficulties, and perils of the revolutionary struggle, the genius 
of Washington was the directing spirit of the contest. Patient and saga- 
cious, he never rushed headlong into battle ; he was sparing of human 
life ; courageous at all times, but humane ; and never, for a moment, de- 
spairing of the glorious cause. 

After the surrender at Yorktown, and the close of the war, and the with- 
drawal of the troops of the enemy, he took leave of his brave comrades in 
arms, in New York, then assembled at Francis' Tavern, (kept at what is 
now the corner of Franklin Square and Cherry Street, the same old edifice 
is standing yet,) and Dec. 23d he resigned his commission to Congress. 

Washington now retired to Mount Vernon, again employing himself in 
domestic pursuits. But the country yet looked to him for guidance. He 
became in 1787, a member of the Convention which formed the Constitu- 
tion, and was President of that body. In 1789, he was unanimously elec- 
ted the first President under the Constitution of the Republic, and remained 
eight years in that high office. He then retired to private life, but was again 
induced to accept the office of commander-in-chief of the army, during the 
administration of the elder Adams. His death occurred before the restora- 
tion of peace with France. He died on the 14th of December, 1799, at 
the age of 68 years, mourned by the whole nation. The world has pro- 
duced but one WASHINGTON. 



JOHN ADAMS. 

The second President of the United States, was John Adams, of Mas- 
sachusetts. He was born at Quincy, Mass., Oct. 19, 1735, O. S. and 
was a Hneal descendant from Henry Adams, who fled from persecution in 
England, and on the maternal side from John Alden, one of the pilgrims 
■who landed on Plymouth .Rock. Inheriting the love of liberty, he early 
exhibited the most ardent enthusiasm in favor of the rights of the colonists, 
and was one of the most active and efficient of the " sons of liberty " in 
Massachusetts. He was educated at Harvard College, where he graduated 
in 1755. He studied law at Worcester, where he became acquainted with 
Jeremy Gridley, attorney-general of the province, and through his counsel 
and instruction, acquired a finished legal education. Mr. Adams was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1758, and settled in Braintree. In 1761, he rose to the 
rank of a barrister, and became distinguished in his profession. 

In 1766, he removed to Boston, and married. Here he became one of 
the associates of Otis, Hancock, Samuel Adams and others, in resistance to 
the arbitrary measures of the government. His great abilities attracted 
attention, and the English Governor Barnard, tried to detach him from the 
cause he had espoused, by tendering him the lucrative office of Advocate 
General in the Court of Admiralty. But he rejected the proposition with 
promptness, choosing rather to expose to hazard his life and prospects, than 
give up his integrity. Mr. Adams was a member of all the revolutionary 
conventions in his native State, and was elected a delegate to the first Con- 
tinental Congress. The second Congress convened at Philadelphia, in 
May, 1775. It became necessary to appoint a leader for the contest, to 
command the armies of the revolution. John Adams nominated Washing- 
ton, who was wholly unapprised of the intention, and reluctantly accepted 
the high trust. 

Mr. Adams was one of the committee to draft the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, and is pronounced by his associate, Thomas Jefferson, to have been the 
most efficient agent in procuring a public Declaration of Independence. His 
exertions during the entire revolution were almost incredible. In December, 
1777, he was appointed Commissioner to France ; but the object of his 
mission having been accomplished by Dr. Franklin, he returned in the sum- 
mer of 1779. He assisted in forming the first Constitution of Massachusetts. 
He was appointed minister to England, and afterwards to Holland ; and Con- 
gress at one time invested him with general plenipotentiary powers to half 
the European kingdoms. He negotiated peace with Great Britain, and 
was the first American minister accredited at the English Court. After an 
absence in Europe of eight years, he returned to the United States ; and in 
1788, was elected Vice President of the United States. He was again 
elected to the same office in 1792, and was one of Washington's confiden- 
tial friends and advisers. He succeeded Washington as President, on the 
4th of March, 1797, and remained one term in office. He retired in 1801, 
to his paternal seat, in Quincy ; and with the exception of taking his seat 
and participating in the doings of the Convention of 1820, to revise the 
Constitution of his native State, he passed the remainder of his days in the 
ease and quiet of private life. 

Mr. Adams died on the 4th of July, just fifty years after the Declaration, 
of Independence. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 

Mr. Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was born at 
Shadvvell, Albermarle County, Virginia, April 2, 1743, O. S. He was 
educated at William and Mary College, and studied law with George 
Wythe. He was admitted to practice at the bar, in 1766, and his success 
was flattering. While attending on the Courts, he reported a volume of 
cases decided in the Supreme Court, which attracted attention, and led to 
his appointment to a station in the legislative assembly of Virginia. Here 
he became the intimate associate of the master spirits of Virginia, and took 
an active part in all those patriotic proceedings which placed the Old Do- 
minion side by side with Massachusetts, in the great struggle for liberty. In 
March, 1775, Mr. Jefferson was elected a delegate to the general Congress, 
and took his seat in that body on the 21st of June. He was an active and 
efficient member. In August he was again chosen to the same body ; in 
which, being on the committee appointed to prepare a draft of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, he drew up the one which was finally adopted. In 
the autumn of 1776, he returned to Virginia. He was tendered the office 
of Commissioner to France, with Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane, but de- 
clined the appointment, and remained during the year in his native State, 
devoting himself assiduously to her concerns. He was, for more than two 
years, actively engaged in revising the statutes of Virginia, and adapting 
them to the new condition of things. To his labors, Virginia is indebted for 
some of her most important statutes. 

In June, 1779, Mr. Jefferson succeeded Patrick Henry, as Governor of 
the State. In 1782, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary with those 
then in Europe, to negotiate for peace ; but before his departure, the wel- 
come intelligence was received, that peace had been concluded. In June, 
1783, he was again elected to Congress. 

In May, 1784, he was a third time appointed on an embassy, and went 
to Paris. He was absent on his mission more than four years, and visited 
Holland and Italy. Peace having been restored, and the government put 
in operation. Gen. Washington tendered to Mr. Jefferson the first office in 
his cabinet, as Secretary of State. He held the office until the close of 1793, 
when he resigned. In 1801, he was elected President of the United States 
by the House of Representatives, the people in their colleges having failed 
to make a choice. He continued in this high office eight years, and during 
his administration some important measures were adopted ; the most impor- 
tant of which was the purchase of Louisiana. When his second term of 
office expired, he retired to his estate in Virginia, and devoted the remain- 
der of his life to philosophical pursuits, and the oversight of his plantation. 

Mr. Jefferson, from the suavity of his manners, his great knowledge of 
men, and a foresight in political affairs rarely possessed by any man, acquired 
a great personal influence in the nation, and was looked to as the great 
father of the democratic party in this country. He took a warm interest in 
the establishment and success of the University of Virginia, of which he 
was the founder. Of this Institution he was the rector, and continued to 
exert himself in its behalf, until his death, which occurred on the 4th of July, 
1826; fifty years from the day of the Declaration; and the same day also 
that the soul of his friend, the elder Adams, winged its flight to heaven. 
1* 



JAMES MADISON. 

James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, was born 
March 5, 1751, O. S. in Orange County, Virginia, on the south side of 
the Rappahannock. At twelve years of age, he was placed under the tui- 
tion of Donald Robertson, a distinguished teacher, and under his guidance, 
and that of the Rev. Thomas Martin, was fitted for College. He gradu- 
ated at Princeton, N. J. in 1771, in poor health, but with distinguished 
reputation as a scholar. 

In the spring of 1776, when twenty-five years of age, he was initiated into 
public service, in the Assembly of Virginia. He was omitted at the suc- 
ceeding election, on account of his diffidence in public speaking, or as tradi- 
tion says, because he refused to treat at the election, which he looked upon 
as improper and immoral. The Legislature, however, appreciated his abil- 
ities, and appointed him a member of the Council, vvhich place he held un- 
til 1779, when he was elected a delegate to Congress. He took his seat in 
that body in March, 1780, and was continued there by re-elections, until 
1783. During the whole time he was in Congress, he was an active and 
useful member, and acquired a great influence in that body. During the 
three following years, he was a member of the State Legislature, and ac- 
tive in all the necessary changes of the laws which their new political con- 
dition rendered necessary. Mr. Madison was one of the most conspicuous 
members of the Convention of 1787, which formed the federal Constitution, 
and contributed as much as any other man to its formation and adoption by 
the people. — His luminous exposition of tiie doctrines laid down in the Con- 
stitution, forms a text book for American statesmen. 

In 1788, Mr. Madison was elected to the Virginia Convention for ratify- 
ing the Constitution. After the Constitution was adopted, he was elected 
a Representative to Congress, and remained a member until March, 1797. 
In 1798, being again a member of the Virginia Legislature, he drew 
up the celebrated Virginia resolutions, and report on the measures of 
the federal administration, known as the alien and sedition laws. In 
1801, he was an elector of President and Vice President, in Virginia. 
On the elevation of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency, Mr. Madison received 
the appointment of Secretary of State, in which office he remained during 
the whole of Mr. Jefferson's administration of eight years. In 1809, IMr. 
Madison was elected by the colleges, the successor of Mr. Jefferson, in the 
Presidency. During his administration the war with Great Britain occurred, 
which resulted in rendering tlie American name known and respected by 
other nations. The country was ill prepared for a war with the most pow- 
erful nation on earth ; and a large portion of the people, those in New Eng- 
land, especially, were averse to it. His administration encountered a stormy 
opposition ; but all parties, however they might doubt the policy of his 
measures, conceded to Mr. Madison the merit of lofty, patriotic, and hon- 
est intentions. 

The lapse of years has vindicated his fame as one of the greatest of Amer- 
ican statesmen. He retired from the Presidency at the end of eight years, 
when at the age of 67, and ever after remained on his estate in Virginia, 
with the exception of about two months, in 1829, during which he was a 
member of the Convention for revising the Constitution of Virginia. He 
died on the 28th of June, 1836, at the age of 85 years. 



JAMES MONROE. 

Mr. Monroe, successor of James Madison, in the Presidential office, 
was also a native of Virginia, which, from the circumstance that four of the 
five chief magistrates of the Union had heen chosen from that State, was 
called the " Mother of Presidents." He was born in Westmoreland 
County, Virginia, April 28, 1758. He was educated at William and 
Mary College, and in 1778 joined the army in the American revolutionary 
struggle, and continued in the service until 1788, when he retired to his 
native Slate, and engaged in the practice of law. In 1780, he held the 
office of military commissioner, for the State of Virginia, and in that ca- 
pacity visited the army of the South. In 1782, he was elected to the 
general assembly of Virginia ; and in 1783, he was elected delegate to 
Congress. 

In 1788, he was a member of the Virginia Convention, called to delib- 
erate on the proposed Constitution of the United States, and took an ac- 
tive part in the proceedings and discussions of that body. In 1790, he 
was elected to the S.enate of the United States from the Commonwealth 
of Virginia. In 1794, he was appointed Minister to France, where he 
remained until re-called by the President in 1797. After his return, in 
1799, Mr. Monroe was elected Governor of Virginia. 

After the accession of Mr. Jefferson, in 1801, and the negotiations re- 
specting Louisiana, were set on foot, Mr. Monroe was appointed special 
minister to France, where he remained until 1803, when he received the 
appointment of minister to England. 

In 1805, Mr. Monroe was associated with Mr. Charles Pinckney, to 
negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with the King of Spain. Du- 
ring his residence in England, Mr. Monroe, aided by his colleague in the 
mission, William Pinckney, negotiated a commercial treaty with Great 
Britain ; but Mr. Jefierson did not approve of its terms, and never sub- 
mitted it to the consideration of the Senate. Mr. Monroe returned to the 
United States in 1808. In 1811, he was again chosen Governor of Vir- 
ginia ; and a change taking place in the cabinet of Mr. Madison, he ten- 
dered to Mr. Monroe the office of Secretary of State, which he accepted, 
and held until his own election as President, on the 4th of March, 1817. 
During a portion of the years 1814 and 1815, Mr. Monroe, in addition to 
his duties as Secretary of State, also discharged the arduous duties of Sec- 
retary of War. He remained in the office of President eight years, and 
his administration was one of the most prosperous and popular that has 
existed since the days of Washington. Mr. Monroe died at New York, 
July 4, 1831, aged 73. 

Mr. Monroe, succeeding to office soon after the close of the war, found 
the people disposed to harmonize in politics. He cultivated the popular 
feeling ; journeyed among the people in different sections of the Union, 
particularly throughout New England, where the weight of opposition to 
Mr. Madison's administration had been concentrated. He was every where 
well received. Party feuds ceased. The people were " all republicans, 
all federalists;" and the nation was blest in all its relations, foreign and 
domestic. 

Mr. Monroe called around him an able cabinet. Mr. Adams, Mr. 
Crawford, and Mr. Calhoun, formed a galaxy of talent, energy and char- 
acter, rarely ever united in one administration. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

The slxih incumbent of the Presidential office was John Quincy Ad- 
ams, son of the second President, John Adams, of Massachusetts. He 
was born at Quincy, in 1767, and received his primary education in the 
family of his father. When John Adams repaired to France, as commis- 
sioner, with Lee and Franklin, he took John Quincy with him, then elev- 
en years of age. And when Mr. Adams again visited Europe as a nego- 
tiator for peace, John Quincy also accompanied him. At Paris, the 
young Adams was placed at school. He also attended a public school in 
Amsterdam, and afterwards the University of Leyden. In 1781, when 
fifteen years of age, he went as private secretary of Mr. Dana, the Amer- 
ican minister to Russia. 

During the winter of 1782-3, he returned to Holland, where his 
father was then resident as minister of the United States ; and when 
his father was appointed to England, he returned to the United States. 
He entered Harvard College soon after his return ; graduated in 1787, 
and entered the office of Theophilus Parsons, as a student at law. On 
completing his law studies, he repaired to Boston, and commenced the 
practice of his profession. 

He soon became known for his signal abilities, and having attracted the 
attention of President Washington, in 1794, he was appointed minister 
resident at the Netherlands, a post which he retained until near the close 
of Washington's administration. Just before retiring from office, Wash- 
ington appointed him minister to Portugal ; but while on his way to Lis- 
bon, his destination was changed to Berlin. While in Prussia, he made 
an excursion into the Province of Silesia. 

In 1801, he returned to this country. In 1802, he was elected to the 
Massachusetts Senate. In 1803, he was chosen a Senator of the United 
States, and gave his support to the administration of Mr. Jefferson ; a 
course which was offensive to his constituents, and he resigned the office. 

In 1806, he was called to the chair as Professor of Rhetoric and 
Oratory, in Harvard College. In June, 1809, he was appointed by Pres- 
ident Madison, as minister to Russia, where he won the confidence and 
esteem of the Emperor Alexander, and laid the foundation of the friend- 
ship which that great nation manifests towards this country. 

Mr. Adams remained in St. Petersburg until appointed by Madison, at 
the head of the commission of five, by which the treaty of peace was ne- 
gotiated at Ghent. After the conclusion of peace, and of a convention of 
commerce with Great Britain, Mr. Adams was appointed resident minis- 
ter at London, where he remained until the accession of Mr. Monroe to 
the Presidency. 

In organizing his cabinet, Mr. Monroe selected Mr. Adams as Secretary 
of State, an office which he filled with great honor to the country and to 
himself, until the close of Mr. Monroe's administration. In the Presiden- 
tial contest of 1824, Mr. Adams was a prominent candidate, together with 
General Jackson, Mr. Crawford and Mr. Clay. There being no choice 
by the people, Mr. Adams was elected by the House of Representatives. 

He encountered, however, at the threshold of his administration, a vig- 
orous and overwhelming opposition ; and his rival. General Jackson, uni- 
ting the friends of the other candidates in 1825, succeeded to the Presi- 
dency, in 1828. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 

Andrew Jackson was born on the 15th of March, 1767, at Warsaw, 
South Carolina, a small settlement, whither his family had emigrated two 
years previous. Though too young to take an active part in the revolu- 
tionary struggle, he had all the courage and spirit of a true patriot, with 
the enthusiasm of youth. In 1784, having acquired a good English edu- 
cation, he commenced the study of law in Salisbury, N. C. ; was admit- 
ted to practice in 1786, and removed to Nashville in 1788. Professional 
success immediately attended him. He soon received the appointment of 
Attorney General of the district. In 1796, he became a member of the 
Tennessee Convention to form a Constitution for the State. In the same 
year he was elected to the national Senate. He took his seat in that 
body, but resigned at the close of the session, alleging his distaste for the 
turmoils of politics. 

He was appointed Major General of the Tennessee militia, which office 
he retained until appointed to the same rank in the U. S. army by Presi- 
dent Madison, in 1814. After retiring from the Senate, he was for a. 
short period one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. 

When war was declared in 1812, he was on his plantation upon the 
Cumberland, near Nashville. He headed 2500 volunteers for the defence 
of the lower states, and proceeded as far down as Natchez. He led the 
Tennessee militia against the Creeks, in the furious battle of Talladega, 
and after various encounters, succeeded with his brave comrades in anni- 
hilating the power of the savage Creeks. The bravery and skill of Gen- 
eral Jackson attracted the notice of the General Government, and he was 
appointed a Major General in May, 1814. His brilliant career in the ser- 
vice of the country from this period until the victory of New Orleans and 
the close of the war, is familiar to every one. 

He retired, on the conclusion of peace, to his farm in Tennessee. In 
1817, the Seminoles on the Spanish frontier committing depradations upon 
our citizens, he took the field again, and pursued these murderous hordes 
into their retreats, and destroyed large numbers of them. When the Flor- 
idas were ceded to the United Slates, General Jackson was appointed 
Governor of the territory. Having organized the government, he re- 
signed the office, and retired to his plantation. 

In 1823, he was chosen to the Senate, but soon after, having consented 
to become a candidate for the Presidency, he resigned his seat in that 
body. The electoral colleges gave him a plurality of votes, but there was 
no choice by the people, and the House of Representatives elected Mr. 
Adams. In 1829, being again a candidate, he was elected. He was 
re-elected in 1833, and was eight years in office. 

The eight years administration of General Jackson will form an epoch 
in our history, conspicuous for the changes made in the policy of the gov- 
ernment, the gradual breaking down of the Tariff System, and the arrest 
of Internal Improvements by the nation. The antagonist position of the 
National Bank, the final overthrow of that institution by a stretch of 
Presidential power, which although questionable in its nature, was sanc- 
tioned by the popular voice — the revulsion in trade and commerce — all 
will be remembered for years to come, doubtless to form the subjects 
of angry discussions by the different parties into which the country is 
divided. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 

Martin Van Buren, the eighth President of the United States, was 
born on the 5th of December, 1782, at Kinderhook, Columbia County, 
in New York. His father was Abraham Van Buren, a reputable farmer, 
descended from one of the ancient families who first settled at Kinderhook. 
Mr. Van Buren acquired the rudiments of his education at the academy 
of his native village, which he left at the age of fourteen to Commence the 
study of his profession. At that early age he is said to have exhibited a 
strong passion for extempore speaking, and to have attracted attention by 
the ease and vigor of his declamation. He entered the office of Francis 
Sylvester, Esq., of Kinderhook, but finished his studies under the direction 
and in the office of VVm. P. Van Ness, a distinguished lawyer of N. York. 

In November, 1803, at the age of 21, he was admitted to the bar of 
the Supreme Court, and soon after commenced the practice of his profes- 
sion in his native county. He opened an office at Kinderhook, and re- 
mained there until 1808, when, on being appointed Surrogate of the 
county, he removed his office to Hudson. He rapidly rose to distinction 
at the bar, and soon became known as a distinguished and active politi- 
cian. He supported Morgan Lewis for governor against Aaron Burr in 
1804; and Daniel D. Tompkins against Gen. Lewis in 1807. In 1812, 
he was elected a member of the State Senate, and supported Dewitt Clin- 
ton for the Presidency against Mr. Madison. He however gave a warm 
support to the war, and the administrations of Madison and Tompkins. 
In 1815, he was appointed Attorney General of New York, and a Re- 
gent of the U^niversity. In 1819 he was removed from the office of At- 
torney General, for his hostility to Governor Clinton. During this year 
he came out in support of Rufus King for the Senate, and exerted his 
influence successfully in his behalf. Mr. King had only three votes 
against him in the legislature. 

In 1821, Mr. Van Buren was elected to the Senate of the United 
States. Before taking his seat, he was chosen to the State Convention 
for revising the Constitution of New York, and took an active part in the 
deliberations of that body. 

From 1821 to 1828, Mr. Van Buren was a conspicuous men)ber of the 
Senate. He was known also over the LTnion as an able politician. He 
supported Mr. Crawford for the Presidency in 1824; was a prominent 
opponent of Mr. Adams's adn)inistration, until he left the Senate in 1828, 
to assume the office of Governor of New York, to which he had been 
elected. On the 12th of March, 1829, Gen. Jackson conferred on Mr. 
Van Buren the office of Secretary of State, the duties of which he contin- 
ued to discharge until the 11th of April, 1831, when he resigned. He 
was soon after appointed by the President Minister to Great Britain. 
When his nomination came to be acted upon in the Senate, January, 1832, 
it was rejected by the casting vote of Mr. Calhoun, the Vice President. 
But this event proved a stepping stone to his further elevation. On the 22d 
of May following, he was nominated for the Vice Presidency, and elected 
on the ticket with Gen. Jackson in the autumn of that year. On the 
20th of May, 1835, Mr Van Buren received the nomination of the Dem- 
ocratic party for the Presidency, and receiving a majority of votes in the 
electoral colleges, he was inaugurated President of the United States on 
the 4tli of March, 1837. He remained in office four years. 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 

Wm. Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States, was 
born at Berkley, in Charles City County, Virginia, on the 9th of Febru- 
ary, 1773, and was educated at Hampden Sidney College. His father, 
Benjamin Harrison, who was a signer of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, died in 1791 leaving his children little other inheritance than his 
example, and the friendship of many of his distinguished fellow-citizens. 

Young Harrison |)ursued the study of medicine until his 18th year, when 
the breaking out of the war with the Indians of the Northwest, in 1791, 
led him to enter the army, which he did with an ensign's commission, con- 
ferred by Gen. Washington. He was present at Wayne's victory over 
the Indians, August 20, 1794, and his name is honorably mentioned in 
that General's despatch to the President. In 1794, at the age of 21, he 
received a Captain's commission, and was placed in command of Fort 
Washington, with extensive powers and heavy responsibilities. In the 
same year he married a daughter of John Cleves Symmes, the founder of 
the Miami settlements. 

In 1797 Harrison resigned his commission and received the appoint- 
ment of Secretary of the Northwest Territory. Two years after, at the 
age of 26, he was elected delegate to the Hou^ of Representatives of the 
United States. In 1800 he was appointed Governor of Indiarta, and also 
commissioner and superintendent of Indian affairs. 

On the 6th of November, 1811, he completely defeated the Indians in 
the celebrated battle of Tippecanoe : and soon after, just previous to the 
declaration of war against Great Britain, he was appointed a Major Gen- 
eral in the militia of Kentucky. In the course of the year he received 
from the President the chief command in the Northwest, with orders to 
retake Detroit, to penetrate into Canada as far as events would justify, 
and in fine to act in all cases according to his own judgment. The order 
of government was obeyed to the letter: Detroit was recaptured, and 
Canada penetrated far enough to allow the Britisii to feel the pressure of 
the iron hand of war. On the 5th of October, 1813, he defeated on the 
banks of the river Thames, the British and Indians commanded by Gene- 
ral Proctor and the famous Tecumseh, who was slain in the battle. 

In 1814 Harrison resigned his commission, and was appointed, in con- 
junction with Gen. Cass and Gov. Shelby, a commissioner to treat with 
the Indian tribes on the Northwestern frontier, who had been engaged in 
hostilities against the United States. 

In 1816 Gen. Harrison was elected a member of the United States 
House of Representatives : in 1819, of the State Senate of Ohio: in 
1824, of the Senate of the United States, and in 1828 he was appointed 
Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Colombia. He was soon re- 
called by Gen. Jackson, and retired to his farm at North Bend, on the 
Ohio river, some miles below Cincinnati, where he lived retired, taking 
no active part in public life or political affairs, until in 1836 he was nom- 
inated a candidate for the office of President of the United States, in op- 
position to Mr. Van Buren. He was defeated, but was again nominated 
in 1840, by the Harrisburg Convention, and was elected by a large ma- 
jority. One month after his inauguration, on the 4th of April, 184J, aged 
68 years, he died at Washington, regretted by the whole nation. 



JOHN TYLER. 

John Tyler, the successor of Wm. Henry Harrison in the Presiden- 
tial office, was born in Charles City County, Virginia, on the 29th of 
April, 1790, and was educated at William and Mary College, Virginia. 
His father for a considerable period held the office of Governor of that an- 
cient commonwealth, and enjoyed the friendship and esteem of the distin- 
guished statesmen of his day. He was a neighbor, and intimate friend of 
Thomas Jefferson, and is said to have possessed his unreserved confi- 
dence. 

At the early age of 21 years, John Tyler was elected to the Legislature 
of Virginia, and five years after was placed in Congress. 

In 1826 he was chosen Governor of his native State, the duties of 
which station he discharged for about one year and a half, when the Leg- 
islature selected him to fill a vacancy in the Senate of the United States. 
Having served in tiiat capacity during one term, he was re-elected and con- 
tinued in that office until a difference of opinion arose between Gen. Jack- 
son and himself, on some measures of public policy, when on being in- 
structed by the Legislature of Virginia to vote in their favor, he resigned 
his seat and went into voluntary retirement. 

The Whig Convention, jvhich assembled at Harrisburg, in the state of 
Pennsylvania, selected him as their candidate for Vice President of the 
United States, to which office he was elected in the autumn of 1840. 

On the death of Gen. Harrison, April 4, 1841, Mr. Tyler became Pres- 
ident in accordance with the provision of the Federal Constitution, which 
says : — " In case of the President's removal from office, or of his death, 
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of said office, 
the same shall devolve on the Vice President." 

Mr. Tyler's administration, since his accession, has been distinguished 
by the numerous vetoes he has given to important bills passed by Con- 
gress. On the 16th of August, 1841 he vetoed a bill to incorporate a 
bank of the United States, which had been passed by the Congress that 
met in extra session on the last Monday of May, 1841. On the 9th of 
Sept., 1841, he again vetoed a similar bill providing for the establishment 
of a "Fiscal Corporation of the United Slates." On the 29ih of June, 
1842, he vetoed the " Little Tariff Bill." On the 9th of Aug., 1842, he 
vetoed the Revenue Bill : and his message accompanying the veto was 
referred to a select committee of the House, with J. Q. Adams as chair- 
man, who in a few days presented a report commenting with great sever- 
ity on the course pursued by the President, and suggesting an amendment 
of the Constitution so as to limit the veto power. The vetoed bill was 
soon after amended and was signed by Mr. Tyler, with a protest against 
the report of the committee, which protest the House refused to enter on 
its journals. 

The position of Mr. Tyler, as President, has been more peculiar and 
probably more difficult than that of any of his predecessors. He was soon 
deserted by the great majority of the party which placed him in power, and 
encountered their most violent opposition, without receiving a counterbal- 
ancing support from his former adversaries. He has thus been supported 
by no party, at least by none of any great extent, and has been unable 
from his situation to link himself thoroughly with either of the great divi- 
sions which are coeval with the existence of the republic. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

When, in the conise of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to 
dissolve the political bands vvliich have connected them with another, and to 
assinr-e, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which 
the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the 
opinions of mankind requires tliat they should declare the causes which impel 
them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident — that all men are created equal; that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the con- 
sent of the governed ; and that, whenever any form of government becomes de- 
structive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to 
institute newgovernment, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing 
its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety 
and happiness. Prudencte, indeed, will dictate that governments, long established, 
should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and, accordingly, all expe- 
rience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are 
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are 
accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably 
the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is 
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new 
guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the 
colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former 
systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a 
history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the estab- 
lishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be 
submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the 
public good. He has fordidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and 
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent should be 
obtained ; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of 
people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the 
legislature — a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and 
distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing 
them into comi)liance with his measures. He has dissolved representative houses 
repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the 
people. He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others 
to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have 
returned to the people at large for their exercise ; the .state remaining, in the mean 
time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states ; for that purpose 
obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to 
encourage their migration thither, and raising the conditions of new appropria- 
tions of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws 
for establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his will alone, 
for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to 
harass our people, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the consent 
of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of, and 
superior to, the civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our con- 
stitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his assent to their acts of 
pretended legislation, — for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; — 
for protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which 
they should commit on the inhabitants of these states; — for cutting off our trade 
with all parts of the world ; — for imposing taxes on us without our consent ; — for 
depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury ; — for transporting U3 
beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences ;— for abolishing the free system of 



14 

English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary govern- 
ment, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit 
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies ; — for taking 
away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fuudatnentally, 
the forms of our governments ; — for suspending our own legislatures, and declar- 
ing themselves invested with |)Ower to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and 
waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our 
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, trans]jorting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete 
the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of 
cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally 
unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow-citizens, 
taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the 
executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored to bring 
on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule 
of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most 
humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated 
injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define 
a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have 
warned them, from time to time, of the attempts, by their legislature, to extend au 
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances 
of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and 
magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to 
disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and 
correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consan- 
guinity. We iTiust, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our 
separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in 
peace, friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General 
Congress assembled, ap|)ealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the recti- 
tude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of 
these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are, and 
of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all 
allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and 
the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as free 
and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract 
alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which indepen- 
dent states may of right do. And, for the su[)port of this declaration, with a firm 
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other 
our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 
This declaration was, b}' order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members : 

JOHN HANCOCK. 



Nejc Hampshire. 
JOStAH BARTLETT, 
WI1,LIAM WHIPPLE, 
M.-YTTIIEW THORNTON. 

Massaclwsetts Sail. 
SAyWHL ADAiMS, 
JOHN ADAMS, 
ROBERT TREAT PAINE, 
ELBRIDGE GERRY. 
Rhode Island. 
STEPHEN HOPKINS, 
WILLIAM ELLERY. 

Connecticut. 
ROGER SIlERiMAN, 
SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, 
WILLIAM WILLIAMS, 
OLIVER WOLCOTT. 

New Jersey. 
RICHARD STOCKTON, 
JOHN VVITHERSPOON, 
FRANCIS HOPKINSON, 
JOHN HART, 
ABRAHAM CLARK. 



New York. 
WILLIAM FLOVD, 
PHILIP LIVINGSTON, 
FRANCIS LEWIS, 
LEWIS MORRIS. 

Pennsylvania. 
ROBERT MORRIS, 
BENJAMIN RUSH, 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
JOHN MORTON. 
GEORGE CLYiMER, 
JAMES SMI'iTI, 
GEORGE TAYLOR, 
JAMES WILSON, 
GEORGE ROSS. 

Delaware. 
CM^AU RODNEY, 
GEORGE READ, 
THOaiAS M'KEAN. 

North Carolina. 
WILLIAM HOOPER, 
JOSEPH HEWES, 
JOHN PENN. 



Maryland. 
SAMUEL CHASE, 
WILLIAM PACA, 
THO.MAS STONE. 
CHARLES CARROLL, of Cat- 
roliton. 

Virscinia. 
GEORGE WYTHE, 
RICHARD HENRY LEE, 
'J'HOMAS JEFFERSON, 
BENJAMIN HARRISON, 
THOMAS NELSON, Jr., 
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, 
CARTER BRAXTON. 

South Carolina. 
EDWARD RUTLEDGE, 
THOMAS HEYWARD, Jr., 
THOMAS LYNCH, Jr., 
ARTHUR MI DDL ETON. 

Georgia, 
BUTTON GWINNETT, 
LYMAN HALL, 
GEORGE WALTON. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, 
establish justice, e7isiire domestic tranquillity, provide for the common 
defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to 
ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this ConstitutiotL for 
the United States of America, 

ARTICLE I. 

Sect. I. — All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House 
of Representatives. 

Sect. II. — 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of mem- 
bers chosen every second year, by the people of the several states; and the 
electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of 
the most numerous branch of the state legislature. 

2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained the 
age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the state in 
which he shall be chosen. 

3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the 
serveral states which may be included within this Union, according to their 
respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole 
number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of 
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons. 
The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first 
meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent 
term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The num- 
ber of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but 
each state shall have at least one representative ; and until such enumera- 
tion shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 
three; Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 
one; Connecticut, five ; New York, six; New Jersey, four ; Pennsylvania, 
eight; Delaware, one; Maryland, six; Virginia, ten; North Carolina, 
five; South Carolina, five; Georgia, three. 

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the ex- 
ecutive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. 

5. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other 
officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Sect. III. — 1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two 
senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; 
and each senator shall have one vote. 

2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first 
election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. 
The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration 
of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, 
and the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may 
be chosen every second year ; and if vacancies happen by resignation or 



16 

otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive 
thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the 
legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. 

3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained the age of 
thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who 
shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall 
be chosen. 

4. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro 
tempore in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise 
the office of President of the United States. 

6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When 
sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the 
President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; and 
no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the 
members present. 

7. Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to 
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party convicted 
shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, 
and punishment according to law. 

Sect. IV. — 1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for 
senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state, by the legis- 
lature thereof; but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter 
Buch regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year ; and such 
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by 
law appoint a different day. 

Sect. V. — 1. Each house shall be judge of the elections, returns, and 
qualifications of its own members ; and a majority of each shall constitute 
a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to 
day, and may be authorized lo compel the attendance of absent members, 
in such manner, and under such penalties, as each house may provide. 

2. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its 
members for disorderly behaviour, and with the concurrence of two thirds, 
expel a member. 

3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to 
time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judgment, 
require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on 
any question, shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered 
on the journal. 

4. Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the 
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other 
place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting. 

Sect. VI. — J. The senators and representatives shall receive a compen- 
sation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the 
treasury of the United States, They shall, in all cases, except treason, 
felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest, during their 
attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to or 
returning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in either house, 
they shall not be questioned in any other place. 

2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was 
elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United 



17 

States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall 
have been increased, during such time ; and no person holding any officd 
under the United States, shall be a member of either house, during his 
continuance in office. 

Sect. VII. — 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House 
of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amend- 
ments, as on other bills. 

2. Every bill, which shall have passed the House of Representatives and 
the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of 
the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall 
return it, with his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, 
who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to 
reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of that house shall 
agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the 
other house; and if approved by two thirds of that house, it shall become 
a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined 
by yeas and nays; and the names of the persons voting for and against the 
bill, shall be entered on the journals of each house respectively. If any 
bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays ex- 
cepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, 
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless Congress, by their adjourn- 
ment, prevent its return ; in which case it shall not be a law. 

3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary, (except on a 
question of adjournment,) shall be presented to the President of the United 
States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or 
being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations pre- 
scribed in the case of a bill. 

Sect. VIII. — The Congress shall have power — 

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; to pay the 
debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the 
United States ; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform 
throughout the United States : 

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States : 

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several 
states, and with the Indian tribes : 

4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on 
the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States : 

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and 
fix the standard of weights and measures : 

G. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
current coin of the United States : 

7. To establish post-offices and post-roads : 

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for 
limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respec- 
tive writings and discoveries: 

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court: 

10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offences against the law of nations : 

11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on land and water : 

12. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that 
use shall be for a longer term than two years : 

2# 



18 • 

13. To provide and maintain a navy : 
• 14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces : 

15. To provide for calling forth the militia to pxecute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions : 

16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and 
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the 
United States, reserving to the states respectively the appointment of the 
officers, and the authority of training the militia, according to the discipline 
prescribed by Congress: 

17. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such 
district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular 
states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of 
the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased 
by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, 
for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful 
buildings : And, 

18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this 
constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department 
or officer thereof 

Sfxt. IX. — 1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of 
the states, now existing, shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited 
by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; 
but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten 
dollars for each person. 

2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless 
when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. 

3. No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, shall be passed. 

4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to 
the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. No 
preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce or revenue, to 
the ports of one state over those of another ; nor shall vessels bound to or 
from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another. 

6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of 
appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account of the 
receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time 
to time. 

7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no 
person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the 
consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title 
of any kind whatever, from any king, j)rince, or foreign state. 

Sect, X. — I. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confede- 
ration ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money; emit bills of 
credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the 
obligation of contracts ; or grant any title of nobility. 

2. No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or 
duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for 
executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and im- 
posts laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the 
treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the 
revision and control of the Congress. 



19 

3. No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on 
tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agree- 
ment or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or encrage in 
war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit 
of delay. 

ARTICLE II. 
Sect. I. — 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the 
United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four 
years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be 
elected as follows : 

2. Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof 
may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators 
and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress ; 
but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or 
profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 

3. [Annulled in 1803. See Amendments, Art. 12.] 

4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and 
the day on which they shall give their voles ; which day shall be the same 
throughout the United States. 

5. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United 
States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to 
the office of President ; neither shall any person be eligible to that office, 
who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen 
years a resident within the United States. 

6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, 
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of said office, 
the same shall devolve on the Vice President; and the Congress may by 
law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both 
of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act 
as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be 
removed, or a President shall be elected. 

7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a com- 
pensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period 
for which he shall have been elected ; and he shall not receive, within that 
period, any other emolument from the United States, or any of them. 

8. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the 
following oath or affirmation : — " I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I 
will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, 
to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of 
the United Stales." 

Sect. II. — 1. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army 
and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when 
called into the actual service of the United States : he may require the 
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive depart- 
ments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; 
and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against 
the United States, except in cases of impeachment. 

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present con- 
cur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice vind consent of the 
Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, 
judges of the supreme court, and all other officers of the United States, 
whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall 



20 

be established by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest the appoint- 
ment of such inferior officers as they think proper, in the President alone, 
in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 

3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, which 
shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Sect. III. — He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress informa- 
tion of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such 
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient : he may, on extra- 
ordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them ; and in case 
of disagreement between them with respect to the time of adjournment, he 
may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper : he shall receive 
ambassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws 
be faithfully executed ; and shall commission all the officers of the United 
States. 

Sect. IV. — The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the 
United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and con- 
viction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 
* Sect. I. — The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one 
supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may, from time 
to time, ordain and establish. The judges both of the supreme and inferior 
courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated 
limes, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be dimin- 
ished during their continuance in office. 

Sect. II. — 1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and 
equity arising under this constitution, the laws of the United States, and 
treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases 
affecting ambassadors, and other public ministers and consuls ; to all cases 
of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United 
States shall be a party ; to controversies between two or more states ; be- 
tween a state and citizens of another state ; between citizens of different 
states : between citizens of the same state, claiming lands under grants of 
different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign 
states, citizens, or subjects. 

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and 
consuls, and those in which a state shall be a party, the supreme court 
shall have original jurisdiction. In all other cases before mentioned, the 
supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, 
with such exceptions, and under such regulations, as the Congress shall 
make. 

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by 
jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall 
have been committed ; but when not committed within any state, the trial 
shall be at such a place or places as the Congress may by law have directed. 

Sect. III. — 1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in 
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid 
and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the 
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or confessions in open 
court. 

2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of trea- 
son ; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or for- 
feiture, except during the life of the person attained. 



21 

ARTICLE IV. 

Sect. I. — Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the pub- 
lic acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the 
Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, 
records, and proceedings, shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

Sect. II. — 1. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privi- 
leges and immunities of citizens in the several states. 

2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, 
who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall, on demand 
of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up 
to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. 

3. No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regula- 
tion therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be deliv- 
ered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be 
due. 

Sect. III. — 1. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction 
of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more 
states or parts of states, without the consent of the legislature of the states 
concerned, as well as of the Congress. 

2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging 
to the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed 
as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular 
state. 

Sect. IV. — The United States shall guaranty to every state of this 
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion, and, on application of the legisliiture, or of the executive, 
(when the legislature cannot be convened,) against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V. 
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it neces 
sary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the application 
of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a conven- 
tion for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all 
intents and purposes, as part of this constitution, when ratified by the leg- 
islatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three 
fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed 
by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior 
to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner af- 
fect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; 
and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage 
in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI. 

1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the 
adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States un- 
der this constitution, as under the confederation. 

2. This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be 
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, 
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the 
land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby; any thing in 
the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. 



22 

3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members 
of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both 
of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or af- 
firmation to support this constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be 
required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United 
States. 

ARTICLE VII. 
The ratification of the conventions of nine states shall be sufficient for 
the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the 
same. 

Done in convention, by the unanimojis consent of the states present, the 
seventeenth day of Septe7nber, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven 
hundred and eighty-seveii, and of the Independence of the United States 
of America the tivelfth. In witness whereof, ice have hereunto subscribed 
our names. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON, President, and Deputy from Virginia. 



New Hampshire. 
JOHN LANGDON, 
NICHOLAS OILMAN. 

3Iitssac)iiesetts. 
NATHANIEL GORHAM, 
EUFUS KING. 

Connecticut. 
WM. SAMIJKL JOHNSON, 
KOGER SHERMAN. 

New Yor/c. 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 

New Jersey. 
WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, 
DAVID ISREARLEY, 
WILLIAM PATTERSON, 
JONATHAN DAYTON. 



Pennsijlvania. 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
THOMAS MIFFLIN, 
ROBERT MORRIS, 
GEORGE L'LYMER, 
THOMAS FIIZSIMONS, 
JARED INGERSOLL, 
JAMES WILSON, 
GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. 

Delaware. 
GEORGE READ, 
GUNNING BEDFORD, Jr., 
JOHN niCKERSON. 
RICHARD BASSETT, 
JACOB BROOM. 

Man/land, 
JAMES M'HENRY, 



DAN'L of ST. THO. JENIFER, 
DANIEL CARROLL. 

Virginia. 
JOHN BLAIRT 
JAMES MADISON, Jr. 
North Carolina. 
WILLIAM BLOUNT, 
RICH. DOBBS SPAIGHT, 
HUGH WILLIAMSON 
South Carolina, 
JOHN RUTLEDGE, 
CHARLES C. PINCKNEY, 
CHARLES PINCKiNEY, 
PIERCE BUTLER. 

Georgia. 
WILLIAM FEVV, 
ABRAHAM BALDWIN. 



Attest, 



WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary. 



AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 



Art. I. — Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of re- 
ligion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and 
to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 

Art. II. — A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a 
free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arjns shall not be in- 
fringed. 

Art. III. — No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house 
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to 
be prescribed by law. 

Art. IV. — The right of the people to be secure in their persons, hou- 
ses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall 
not be violated ; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, sup- 
ported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be 
searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

Art. V. — No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise 
infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, ex- 
cept in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in 
actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be 
subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; 
nor shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be witness against himself, 
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; 
nor shall private property be taken for public use vvithoul just compensation. 

Art. VI. — In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right 
to a speedy and public trial, by an iujpartial jury of the state and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and 
cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to 
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor ; and to have 
the assistance of counsel for his defence. 

Art. VII. — In suits of common law, where the value in controversy 
shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; 
and no fact, tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of 
the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. 

Art. VIII. — Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines im. 
posed, nor cruel and unusual punishments infiicied. 

Art. IX. — The enumeration in the constitution, of certain rights, shall 
not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

Art. X. — The powers not delegated to the United States by the consti- 
tution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respec- 
tively, or to the people. 

Art. XI. — The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed 
to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against 
one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or sub- 
jects of any foreign state. 

Art. XII. — 1. The electors shall meet in their respective states, and 
vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall 



24 

not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in 
their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the 
person voted for as Vice President ; and they shall make distinct lists 
of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice 
President, and of the number of votes for each ; which lists they shall sign 
and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the United 
States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Sen- 
ate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all 
the cerificates, and the votes shall then be counted ; the person having the 
the greatest number of votes for President shall be President, if such num- 
ber be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no 
person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest num- 
ber, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the 
House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the Presi- 
dent. But, in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, 
the representation from each state having one vote : a quorum for this 
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, 
and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the 
House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right 
of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next fol- 
lowing, then the Vice President shall act as President, as in the case of the 
death or other constitutional disability of the President. 

2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice President, 
shall be Vice President, if such number be a majority of the whole number 
of electors appointed ; and if no person have a majority, then from the two 
highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a 
quorum for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of 
senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President, 
shall be elisible to that of Vice President of the United States. 



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